Meeting One's Hero
by Cybra
Summary: Izzy's cousin is moving to Tamachi and can't wait to meet his hero, Ken Ichijouji. *Izumi-Ichijouji friendship fic. Format is fixed*


Meeting One's Hero

By Cybra

A/N: Heh. It's been a while, hasn't it? :::sweatdrop::: I've been holding onto this fic for a while, but I wanna post it now! Anyway, it's an Izumi-Ichijouji friendship fic that also introduces a new character! I always got a little feeling that Tamachi's constantly getting gypped since most of the action in the show and in fanfics is in either Odaiba or the Digiworld. So, I decided to do a little friendship fic in Tamachi! Huzzah! ^^

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon, Ken Ichijouji, or Koushiro "Izzy" Izumi. I _do_ own, however, Kyo Katei. So P

Two boys strolled along the streets of Tamachi, heading towards the soccer field one cool afternoon. They kept up a casual conversation as they approached the playing field. One walked with his hands in his pockets while the other carried a pair of soccer cleats slung slightly over his shoulder, the laces tied together

One of them – even though he was slightly older than his companion – was obviously shorter than the other boy. His red hair made him stick out a little since it contrasted with his serious black eyes and pale skin.

The other was at least four inches taller than the redhead was. His strawberry blonde* hair – an almost comical sight on the tall boy – seemed to go well with his green eyes. His red-haired companion had taken a few cheap shots in the past about it, saying that if he ever wanted to be reminded of Christmas, all he had to do was look in the mirror. It had taken the shorter redhead three noogies in a row to learn not to make these cheap shots.

"He's gonna be there, right?" the taller one suddenly asked nervously.

The shorter boy sighed. "His soccer practice is almost over. Therefore, he will still be there. When we arrive, they'll be just ending unless Coach Shigeru decides to hold them over to work on a play. Now calm down."

Silence reigned for a moment.

This silence was ended by the taller one asking once again, "But he's gonna be there. Right?"

Koushiro "Izzy" Izumi – a young genius and, unknown to his companion, the Digidestined of Knowledge – gripped the sides of his head and gave an unholy cry. "Yes, Kyo! He will be there! Jeez, you're so nervous, you'd think you were meeting God!"

Kyo Katei laughed. "Well, he's a god in his own way: A god of soccer."

"Don't tell him that."

The two boys – in reality – were cousins. Kyo was the son of the sister of Izzy's adoptive father. Despite Izzy's adoption, the two were still linked by blood since Izzy's biological father had been a distant cousin of his adoptive father.

The third party they were speaking about was none other than Ken "the Rocket" Ichijouji, a spectacular soccer player and a genius.

"Yeah, I guess I won't," the strawberry blonde stated, running a hand through his hair. "I'm just kinda nervous…I never saw him play against my old team since I was sick that day, and now I'm gonna meet him…"

The redhead's eyes rolled heavenward. He gave an exaggerated – not to mention sarcastic – prayer. "If there is a God, strike Kyo down now and put him out of _my_ misery!" He turned his black eyes back to his cousin. "Kyo, you're going to be attending same school as him. If you're lucky, you'll make the soccer team. Therefore, you may see him every day and you'll get used to him. Now calm down before you embarrass yourself!"

The pair reached the soccer field and began to walk down the stairs, past all the bleachers. On the field, the Tamachi soccer team chatted with each other as they collected their things. Some were still in uniform. Others were out of uniform and simply waiting for rides. However, as the two newcomers approached, they began dispersing, unaware of the duo approaching their captain.

"Hey, Ken!" Izzy called, waving a hand.

The blue-haired boy looked up from juggling a soccer ball to see Izzy strolling up to him, an unfamiliar person next to him. "Hi, Izzy! What're you doing in Tamachi?"

"What? Is it illegal for me to come to Tamachi without your permission?" the slightly older boy teased.

Ken finished closing the distance between them, looking down at the slightly shorter redhead. (The fact that Ken was taller yet younger than him infuriated Izzy to no end.) With a straight face, the soccer star answered, "Yes, it is. There's a huge fine, too."

"Blast."

Ken turned his attention from the familiar banter the pair usually kept up when nobody else they knew was around to the tall person standing beside his friend. He had to tilt his head up slightly to meet the newcomer's green eyes. He held out his right hand while he greeted, "Hello. I don't believe we've met. I'm Ken Ichijouji."

Kyo ran a hand nervously through his hair before grasping Ken's right hand with his own. "Hi. I'm Kyo Katei, Izzy's cousin."

Izzy held a hand over his mouth in order to stifle his laughter as his friend blinked rapidly in surprise. He and his cousin had no family resemblance at all. He'd told Ken he was going to have his cousin meet him, but hadn't told the other boy much else except for Kyo's name. He'd allowed Ken to believe that his cousin must've been redheaded and short.

The Rocket noticed the laughter hidden in those black eyes of Izzy's. _'Laugh it up, Izzy. As someone once said, paybacks are heck!'_

"I'm going to be switching into your school soon since I just moved to Tamachi," Kyo explained nervously. "By the way, what's the difference between Tamachi private schools and Tamachi public schools? They both seem to be pretty tough."

Ocean blue eyes danced with sudden mirth at some joke Kyo didn't know. "Tamachi private schools are old, old, old Tamachi money. Tamachi public schools are old, old, old Tamachi money that's been divided up into two sections: useful and useless."

Izzy knew the reason Ken poked fun at Tamachi's school system. In truth, the Tamachi system wasn't the most _effective_ method of keeping schools financed, but it did have its positive points. Teachers usually could get the materials they needed, but sometimes, materials that had been bought by the school board would be lying around for years still in the original boxes with the original tape sealing them up. This was seen most commonly in the public schools but was also seen occasionally in the private schools.

"Okay…" Kyo said, his voice trailing off.

"Sorry. It's an old joke among the students here. Once you spend one day at school, I think you'll figure it out."

"Ah…"

To Kyo's credit, he didn't say a word as to what he was thinking. He'd heard that the famous genius was tall, but he was taller than Ken. In fact, nobody had told him that the Rocket had an effeminate look. He'd poked fun at the other genius he knew – none other than Izzy – for looking slightly like a girl, but here was another with the same type of look. Kyo wondered if he had first seen Ken in person from the back while he was wearing the soccer uniform (as he was now) if he would've thought the soccer star was a girl.

"Kyo's hoping to make your team," Izzy told his blue-haired friend. "He was the lead striker on his old team."

Those ocean blue eyes studied the tallest member of the group. "What team?"

"The Tokyo Scorpions. You guys played them a few weeks ago," the taller one answered.

The younger genius frowned. "I think I remember them…" Images of a soccer game which had ended in a humiliating defeat for the opposite team flitted through his mind. Despite his attempts to give the other team the benefit of the doubt that they could play, he hadn't been impressed at the time of the game. "Yeah, I remember that team," he said, trying not to wince at the memory of the Scorpions' left forward's poor performance. "But I don't remember you."

"I was sick that day. I had to miss the game."

The Ichijouji boy exchanged a look with the Izumi boy. He then asked, "Are you both due home soon?"

"Sorta," Kyo answered. "My parents are going to be out for a while getting the groceries to stock up the fridge, but they told me to be home in about two hours."

"Good. An hour's all I'll need."

"Huh?"

Izzy grinned. "Why do you think I told you to bring your cleats?"

"Um…"

The captain of the Tamachi soccer team dropped the amicable attitude and was now all business. "If you wanna join the soccer team, tryouts are in a week, but since you're here already, I'd like to see your play as it is now."

Kyo's jaw nearly hit the turf. "I…"

The Ichijouji boy trotted further out onto the soccer field, then looked over his shoulder. "I can wait while you put your cleats on. Just hurry. I'm gonna need one hour to give you the whole nine yards, and you only have two hours." That said, he turned and jogged to the center of the soccer field.

The strawberry blonde's jaw hung on its hinges, utterly stupefied. He turned to Izzy who was tapping his cleats.

"You better get out there and start warming up," his shorter cousin told him. A devilish smile lit up the redhead's face. "You're in for a workout."

"And what're _you_ going to do?"

The redhead strolled casually over to the Tamachi team's bench. "I'm gonna sit back and watch."

~@~

Kyo had never had such a workout. When Ken ordered him to jog, he'd jog. When Ken timed him on the mile, he ran as fast as he could. When Ken had him play the striker's position while Ken himself acted as the right forward for the opposing team, he tried his best to hold onto the ball.

What continued to fuel him was a little bit of anger. Here he was, sweating like the proverbial pig, and the star soccer player of the Tamachi team was still going, just like the Energizer bunny. It made no sense. Ken should've been more tired than he was since he not only was giving Kyo the run around, but he'd had soccer practice before hand.

Meanwhile, the Tamachi captain had to give both Kyo and Izzy some credit. Izzy had remained silent the entire time, offering neither cheers or jeers for either player. Kyo was doing his very best against a very skilled player on such short notice. Still, Ken idly wondered what sort of workouts Kyo's old coach had put the Scorpions through. Those workouts hadn't been very effective from what he could see, but he saw promise in the former Scorpions striker.

"Alright, that's it," Ken finally announced, wiping some sweat off of his brow. At Kyo's deep breaths and mutters of gratitude, he added, "That gives you a little warning as to what you're up against during tryouts next week."

Kyo's eyebrow twitched. "That whole physical torture session is going to be _repeated?!"_

The redhead onlooker clapped a hand over his mouth to force down laughter. Kyo looked as though he was going to start hyperventilating.

"Yes, it will be. You didn't do poorly, Kyo, but you may want to get some extra practice in between now and then. If you think _I'm_ tough, wait until you go through how quickly _Coach_ goes through this stuff. Coach is tougher than I am."

Kyo gave a moan, but soon heard a slight growl. He glanced over at the Rocket and noticed the blue-haired boy's sheepish grin.

Ken laughed slightly nervously. "Forgot to eat lunch today."

"Good," Izzy spoke up. "That means that you can use part of your 'rations' this afternoon. For putting my cousin through the ringer, I thought I'd treat you to a Ben and Jerry's."

Ocean blue eyes lit up at the prospect. "I'll take you up on that offer. Just let me get changed out of my uniform."

As the soccer star jogged off, Kyo turned a fearful look towards Izzy. "What _kind_ of 'rations'?"

"Oh, Coach Shigeru has his players on this really bizarre diet," the redhead explained brazenly. "Basically, they can only eat x number of calories per day and have to do x number of exercises per day. If they eat more than the amount of calories they're supposed to, they have to do extra exercises to burn those extra calories. Coach Shigeru has this theory that since weight fluctuates during the week, it can change the performance of a player if he's either heavier or lighter than he was in practice. By keeping their weights about the same during the week, he thinks that it'll help his players out a little bit since they won't have to compensate for that much extra or less weight." Izzy shrugged. "The Tamachi team has a high victory rate and none of the players have passed out yet, so either this diet idea works in a way or it's just because the players are well-disciplined."

Ken jogged back towards them in his gray Tamachi uniform. He held out his right hand to Kyo, the amicable attitude back now that the "tryouts" were over. "It was nice to meet you, Kyo. I look forward to seeing you again."

"Same here!" the taller boy answered, shaking hands with the famous soccer player. He turned to his shorter cousin. "You guys can go get ice cream, I'm gonna go home and crash."

Izzy nodded, but then noticed Ken's eyes widening as if the younger genius had remembered something. He was about to say something, but Kyo had started walking home.

"Wait a minute, Kyo. I almost forgot," the blue-haired one suddenly said, causing the strawberry blonde to stop. "Do some stretches tonight and tomorrow morning. Also, try to get into that habit."

"Why?"

"You're gonna be really, _really_ sore tomorrow. Your muscles will get used to it since the stretches will help ease the pain."

Green eyes blinked, but the owner of those same green eyes nodded. Bowing in farewell, Kyo left.

The redhead smirked. "I don't think I've seen Kyo work that hard in a long, _long_ time."

"He'll have to get used to it," Ken answered. "Coach Shigeru really pushes us. If he wants to make and stay on the team, he'll have to get used to a very tough schedule."

"Well, Rocket, I think you've earned that Ben and Jerry's. What flavor?" the older genius asked, already knowing the answer.

"You really should know this by now. Phish Food!"

~@~

Despite the fact that back when he had been the Digimon Emperor he had lied to himself by saying that he loved attention, Ken enjoyed the feeling of being ignored. Nobody pointed, nobody shouted his name, and – best of all – nobody came up to him to ask for an autograph as the pair of geniuses walked into the ice cream store. He treasured the fact that for the first time in a while, he was not Ken Ichijouji the celebrity, but Ken Ichijouji the preteen who was going to get an ice cream with one of his friends.

"Grab us a seat. It's almost rush hour," Izzy ordered as he began to walk towards the counter.

Ken nodded and grabbed a booth near the window. People strolled by on the street, wrapped up in their own agendas to notice him. He did not miss that feeling of being watched constantly. He always felt like some sort of strange creature under observation.

"Um…Ken? Think you can quit spacing long enough to grab your ice cream before it either melts all over me or I eat it?"

The blue-haired teen jumped in surprise. He had been so wrapped up in his thoughts that he had not noticed his companion's arrival. He reached and grabbed his large cup of Phish Food ice cream before Izzy could even _think_ about stealing a lick from it.

Giving a mock grumble of protest, Izzy sat down across from his friend. "This stuff is sinfully delicious…"

"Tell me about it." Ken savored the taste of his ice cream before he continued. "I save up rations for this. If I could, I'd live off of it."

"Man cannot live on ice cream alone."

"He can try!"

The pair chuckled.

At the same time, Ken was idly situating a cherry on an extra spoon that Izzy had accidentally grabbed. Silently, he calculated the angle of the trajectory and how much force it would take to do what he wanted the cherry to do.

Finally, he tapped the lip of the spoon, making the cherry somersault through the air and hitting Izzy right between the eyes.

"Hey!" was the redheaded boy's protest.

Ken laughed and deflected a hasty attempt to get him back. The pair continued eating their ice cream, now on a new subject: catapults.

"…We could stop by my place and see if we could try to build something like that," Ken noted a few minutes later. "I think we have all the stuff."

"But do you guys have cherries over there?"

"Nope. But we do have sugar cubes!"

"That'll work."

Now through with their treat, the two boys continued on to the Ichijouji apartment.

About a block from the building, a girl's voice suddenly squealed, "There he is!"

The two geniuses glanced back in horror to see a mob of girls running towards them. They looked back at each other.

"Run for your life!" Izzy and Ken simultaneously shouted to each other as they began a mad dash to Ken's apartment.

~@~

The next morning, Kyo woke up in his family's new apartment. After having a full night's sleep, he felt very rested.

It turned out that he'd need it.

His muscles suddenly began to protest any sort of movement. He moaned and rolled over.

As he began to perform stretches, he wondered if it was really worth the pain and suffering to be on the same team as the famous Ken Ichijouji.

Briefly, he thought back to Ken and Izzy's banter from the day before. They were obviously fairly good friends. Maybe he and Ken could hang out a little together, too.

A small smile lighted on his lips.

Yup. A little pain _was_ worth it.

*Mimi is _not_ a strawberry blonde. She has _dyed_ pink hair! Believe me. There _is_ a difference. ^^


End file.
